At the entrance to the Hidden Management Zone.
Evangeline's form slowly materialised. After steadying herself, she looked down and inspected her entire body, then muttered to herself:
"It seems there aren't any problems."
Having gone back and forth twice, Evangeline had a rough understanding of the Hidden Management Zone's function.
To put it in slightly more modern terms, it was like running an antivirus scan.
Each time she entered the Hidden Management Zone, the abnormalities on her body would be cleansed, and what was cleansed naturally included the lock from the Scales of Order.
It was precisely because she realised this that Evangeline had the courage to assist Luo Shu and the others in continuing to probe the functions of the Scales of Order.
Of course, that Demigod Rank promotion material also played a significant role.
"I will now begin to reconnect to the puppet."
After muttering this to herself, Evangeline paid no mind to whether anyone had heard her and simply closed her eyes.
...
Meanwhile, inside the Prime Minister's official residence, where clean-up work was still underway.
On a treetop, a crow turned its crimson eyes and then spoke in a human voice:
"As expected, the connection from three kilometres away is much clearer. Is this a bonus from my Class?"
As a professional puppeteer, Evangeline could freely control puppets within a three-kilometre radius for fine movements, including combat. But beyond three kilometres, without a relay station, the effect would progressively worsen.
The Hidden Management Department's headquarters in Akihabara was just over three kilometres from the Prime Minister's residence.
However, that was the limit for the old Evangeline, who had no Class. Now, according to her own senses, a radius of about ten kilometres was within her fine control range.
After confirming the signal strength, the controlled crow-relay turned its gaze towards the Prime Minister's rest chamber not far away.
Looking through the window, covered with curtains, the crow's gaze seemed to pass through them, revealing the middle-aged, black-haired man lying on the bed inside.
But unlike a normal sleep, even while lying on the bed under a quilt, the man's brows were tightly furrowed, as if he were trapped in some kind of nightmare, unable to wake up.
Seeing this figure, Evangeline couldn't help but mutter to herself:
"It's a good thing I told the residence staff in advance that he needed to rest for a while. Otherwise, if a staff member came in while he was uncontrolled, saw the Prime Minister's state, and woke him up, things would have been troublesome."
As a former member of the Union's Thirteen Apostles (self-proclaimed), Evangeline was not unfamiliar with the reputation of the Divine-level Abyss Artefacts the Five Great Powers used to maintain the current international order.
However, before this, all she knew was that subverting a nation or publicly disseminating knowledge of the mystic side would trigger the punishment mechanisms of these terrifying artefacts.
It wasn't until she joined the Hidden Management Department and received the common knowledge instilled by the Familia that Evangeline understood that controlling the head of a nation would also trigger the mechanisms of these terrifying artefacts.
It was also because of the Familia's common knowledge that Evangeline learned that the Divine-level Abyss Artefact used by the Five Great Powers to maintain order was called the Scales of Order.
"Still, to suddenly find extra things in your head after becoming part of a Familia... that feeling is really too scary."
Muttering to herself, Evangeline immediately controlled the crow, extending her Spiritual Power towards the room.
The formless Spiritual Power seemed to transform into illusory white puppet strings, stretching towards the Prime Minister's room.
Before long, the middle-aged man lying on the bed slowly opened his eyes.
Connecting to this accursed puppet, Evangeline's heart instantly tensed.
"Will it come?"
Evangeline asked herself. Just then, she heard Luo Shu's voice in her ear.
"It's already here."
Hearing this, Evangeline's pupils shrank drastically. Almost at the same time as she heard Luo Shu speak, she suddenly felt her Spiritual Power grow heavy, as if an invisible weight had been placed upon her.
And as Evangeline realised this, her consciousness suddenly focused within her sea of consciousness, where she saw a giant set of scales hanging above her head.
The scales were golden all over, with countless strange patterns carved into both the beam and the pans.
Its size was immense; a single pan enveloped Evangeline, and even if she were ten times larger, it could still easily crush her.
Gazing at the giant scales, Evangeline couldn't help but scream in her mind:
'Hey, hey, hey, what are you waiting for? Get me out of here! It's about to crush me!'
Just as Evangeline was screaming, Luo Shu's leisurely voice reached her ears:
"I know you're anxious, but don't be anxious right now."
'Is that something a person should say? It's not you who's being locked onto, is it?'
In that instant, Evangeline felt as if her head was about to explode. But just then, a vast power, too grand to be described, suddenly flooded into her mind.
—Authority: Calamity
As if by divine inspiration, this word surfaced in Evangeline's mind, and along with it came all sorts of miraculous and terrifying powers.
In a daze, Evangeline seemed to float high in the sky, looking down at the night view of the entire Tokyo metropolis.
In that moment, Evangeline suspected that with a single thought, with just her imagination, the entire city of Tokyo would be turned into a sea of fire. With just a flick of her finger, the entire city would be completely swallowed by the rending earth.
However, this abnormal sense of power came as quickly as it went.
In the very next second, a sense of emptiness welled up in Evangeline's heart, as if something important had left her.
"What... was that just now?" Evangeline, at the entrance to the Hidden Management Zone, muttered to herself.
At that moment, Luo Shu reminded her in a serious tone: "Don't get too addicted to that feeling."
However, this remark didn't elicit much of a reaction from Evangeline.
Within the Divine Kingdom, Luo Shu frowned. He hadn't expected the Calamity Authority that he could wield with ease to produce such a backlash in Evangeline.
'It's almost as if she's being assimilated by the authority...'
Realising this, Luo Shu raised an eyebrow and reminded Evangeline with a sneer:
"The more you indulge in that feeling, the more your inner world will open up to me."
"Evangeline, you wouldn't want your mind to be filled by me, would you?"
As he finished speaking, Evangeline shivered violently, goosebumps breaking out all over her arms. She subconsciously rubbed her arms, her expression a mixture of fascination and vexation as she shouted:
"What you're saying is too vile! This is harassment... blatant harassment!"
However, Luo Shu paid no mind to Evangeline's protest, only reminding her coolly:
"Mobilise your Spiritual Power, focus on your subconscious again, and take another look at those scales."
Hearing this, Evangeline paused for a moment, then mobilised her Spiritual Power once more and delved back into her sea of consciousness.
This time, she saw the giant scales again.
But compared to before, the golden scales were much more illusory, and they were now entwined with chains formed of white lightning.
'The Scales' descent has been halted?'
Realising this, Evangeline's eyes widened, and she couldn't help but ask:
"What did you do?"
Hearing her, Luo Shu lowered his eyes and spoke in a low, solemn tone:
"Only authority can fight authority!"